Sniffing Out New Scents In Brooklyn's Williamsburg

Inside a converted garage in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Christopher Brosius runs a factory devoted to the olfactory of the everyday, from roast beef to libraries.

His perfume company has an unlikely name—CB: I Hate Perfume—but its target consumer is precisely the type who wouldn't be drawn to fancy fragrances with celebrity names. Mr. Brosius's first breakthrough was a scent called "Dirt." It combined his memories of digging vegetables, herbs and flowers on his family's Pennsylvania farm. Another early innovation was...